One Hundred Letters
by SakuraNights01
Summary: Fragmented pieces and memories were all that remained of their friendship, but Silver became inspired to try and fix it. With her one hundredth letter in hand, maybe this would be her last shot at repairing the past. (Spoilers for Oneshot)


She may have to come face-to-face with Kip again.

It was one of the hardest things for Silver to do back then. She wanted, more than anything, to keep in touch and keep talking to one of the only people she knew who understood her the most, one who didn't need to follow any built-in protocol. Silver had been assigned the position of head engineer in the Barrens and was dutifully informed that this was a temporary placement, that she would be transported to the Refuge later on. But when it became clear that no one, not even Kip, would be coming back for her, she chose to cut ties. It was the easiest way to move on and follow through with her job.

Well, it was _supposed_ to be the easiest way, but since she had been tamed, she found that her feelings tended to impose upon her responsibilities.

Torn between answering Kip's numerous letters and performing her tasks as her programming instructed her to do, Silver, still hurt with feelings of betrayal, chose to uphold her job as the most important aspect of her life right now.

The letters began piling up, and she was running out of places to stuff them in her room. Everywhere she looked, she was reminded of Kip.

At the same time, she was reminded of the Author, too. He'd always said something about keeping your dear ones close to your heart, after all. More than anything, she wanted to talk to him and ask him what she should do.

Then, as if an answer had been bestowed upon her, the messiah arrived. The messiah, a mere child (cat?) needed her help. With that, she departed with one of the last ties she had to Kip and the Author: the amber necklace gifted to her from the Glen.

Departing with the necklace made Silver take a step back and reconsider the relationships she had. What was _truly_ important? What _really_ mattered?

She had written a letter, or letters, each day, describing in detail what was happening in the Barrens. Sometimes, she would write up to 10 separate letters in a day, surprising even herself. There was actually quite a bit more to talk about than she had originally anticipated. She found that she had been eager to write, to tell Kip about the things she'd seen or experienced.

But not a single letter had ever been mailed out.

In her possession, she had at least 49 letters written from herself, and 50 from Kip. For a busy scientist, Kip seemed to have quite a bit of free time, Silver thought with amusement oftentimes.

The world grew just a little darker each day, and Silver came to fear one emotion the most: regret. Regret that she had pushed away one of her dearest friends, and regret that she wasn't brave enough to rekindle their friendship.

This fear far outweighed her sorrow, so, upon writing her 50th letter shortly after meeting the Messiah, she decided that this would be the one. The one letter she would send to Kip to make things right again. In this letter, she poured out her feelings, her fears and regrets.

She made it clear that, for what it was worth, Kip was forgiven, and that she was sorry.

* * *

 **[`G%ET` /O U . T`%! ! !]**

The weight of the boulders and stalactites went far beyond her limit. Strong as she were, it was just too much, and she was only barely holding everything up by sheer willpower alone. But worse yet…

Those damned squares. The particle disruptions that broke down so many robots, ruining the hard work of all of those researchers…

They were currently, literally, tearing her apart.

She only felt three emotions in this particular moment. Frustration, that the robot with the glowing yellow eye and the child could only stare dumbfoundedly, unmoving ( _what are you waiting for? Save yourselves and run!_ ). Fear, because what in the good Author's name were these squares doing to her system? She didn't fear death, but rather what exactly would need to be repaired when she got out of here - _if_ she got out of here.

The third emotion she felt was, unsurprisingly enough, regret. Frustration dissipated from her system as she watched the pair leave, quickly disappearing from view. Fear left not long after, among other things, as her mind and the rest of her body became incredibly numb. But regret remained a prominent feeling within her core.

 _Why?_

Perhaps it was because of the work left undone back home. Perhaps it was that, despite her jaded way of thinking, she had been secretly hoping to see and feel the sun in the sky again.

Or perhaps it was the letter she had written that was on her person. The letter that was supposed to fix everything. The 100th letter she owned, between both herself and Kip, that had given her hope that there could be a light at the end of this long, lonely road. It should come as no surprise that she had placed her heart into the parchment - what a sad waste of ink and paper, then, since it wouldn't reach its addressee.

Silver would never see Kip ever again.

This was probably meant to be. What a childish desire, to want to fix something she herself had broken in the first place. Ah, but that was just her jaded thinking again, wasn't it?

Actually-

The tunnel had already been growing darker by the second, but with one sickening crunch of her structure crumbling in on itself, all thoughts and feelings ceased, and the remaining debris collapsed inwards, no longer fighting against restraint. As the dust settled, an eerie silence followed. Only the distant, echoing sounds of a mine cart pressing onward all alone could be heard.

* * *

Many miles away, earthquakes rocked the Refuge almost endlessly, causing walkways to break away and fall dangerously onto the surface below. Panic ensued rapidly, and it took everything Dr. Silverpoint had to keep her assistants and fellow researchers calm as they helped the evacuations along. Even evacuees from the Glen had started filing in, along with robots that had been recalled from the Barrens. Though she told herself it was useless, Kip still kept an eye out for red hair, for a robot that looked just like her. It never hurt to have hope, right?

"Silver… wherever you are, please… please be safe…."

* * *

 **...This was SUPPOSED to be a happy story. One that ended well for everyone. Actually, this was supposed to take place after the Solstice run had been completed, and everyone was happy and settling back into their new lives with the sun overhead.**

 **But no. I was struck by inspiration to write something a little less heartfelt and a little more heartbreaking.**

 **And yes, I had gone so far as to delete nearly a page's worth of text just to make sure this story suited the taste I was going for.**

 **A majority of this was written in the wee hours of the morning, so please ignore any grammatical errors and the like. :')**


End file.
